The Inauguration of Dangote Refinery: Its Many Benefits for Real Estate Professionals

ESV Lucky Blessing Emi

On Monday 22nd May, 2023, the long-awaited Dangote Refinery was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari. The multi-billion-naira petroleum refinery that is located at Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State in South-West Nigeria has the capacity to produce 650,000 barrels per day. This is unarguably the first of its kind in this part of the World.

Thousands of direct and indirect jobs would be created when this much talked about refinery will begin production in June, 2023. This will definitely turn around the economy of Ibeju-Lekki axis and of course the Nigerian economy as a whole.

The advent of this refinery is a watershed moment for all kinds of businesses and professionals including the real estate professionals. One of the things that will turn the Epe and Ibeju-Lekki axis of Lagos State into a high brow ar-ea is the massive development of quality housing that will accommodate the participants and key actors of the economic activities that will come up as a result of the Dangote Refinery. Here, real estate professionals have a pivotal role to play; ranging from housing development, sales, marketing, property evaluation, real estate consulting and advisory services. The opportunities are not only huge for these set of professionals in the built environment but also very demanding in skills and professionalism as non-real estate professionals would like to take advantage of these visible opportunities.
Property marketing, sales, letting, and advisory services are already on the increase in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos, and this presents an opportunity for real estate investors and professionals. As a matter of fact, all professionals in the real estate ecosystem are in for a good time following the inauguration of the Dangote Refinery that has the capacity of tuning the Nigerian economic fortune around if well managed.

Directly on the refinery facilities, the professional services of estate surveyors and valuers will be needed since they are the only professionals in the Nigeria real estate space with the mandate to value and write reports on landed properties, including plants and equipment as in the case of the huge Dangote Refinery. Good enough, the Nigerian real estate market has eminently qualified valuers who are experts and proven professionals. These set of valuers have equally been professionally trained by the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), the federal government recognized professional body that has the sole mandate of carrying out the business of estate surveying and valuation. So, for the newly inaugurated Dangote Refinery, there is a pool of local professionals’ valuers that will help the petroleum brand in carrying out valuation for all purposes.

On this note, I urge the management of Dangote Refinery to cash on the pool of locally made professional valuers. Thankfully, the federal government’s Local Content Policy (LCP) campaign is already fully operational in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Sector.

In whatever angle you may look at it, the Dangote Refinery is presenting a life time business opportunity for all cadres of professionals in the Nigerian and African business environment, including estate surveyors and valuers. These opportunities are in different phases: short, mid-, and long-term opportunities. And the employment and job benefits are huge, directly and indirectly.

The onus is now on the federal government and all stakeholders in the Nigerian economy to create a congenial business environment that will allow the new refinery to realize its full potential for our common good.

ESV Lucky Blessing Emi, is a registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer. He is the Principal Consultant of Lucky Emi Consulting, a leading Nigerian firm of estate surveyors and Valuers.